Halloween is almost here, making this a great weekend to play some spooky games. Apple Arcade has a nice selection of these to help you enjoy the creepy season.
Here are the best options in Apple’s gaming service to find ghosts, ghouls and goblins.
Apple Arcade games for Halloween
You’ll find plenty of games with haunted houses, blood-sucking vampires and shambling zombies on Apple Arcade. These can be a lot of fun no matter your age, especially at Halloween. But let’s address the vampire elephant in the room: Apple’s gaming service harbors nothing an adult would consider a true horror title.
Don’t go looking for anything like Resident Evil. Apple Arcade is far too family friendly for that.
Mac, iPad or iPhone users looking for actual horror games should consider one of the cloud-gaming services instead. The Xbox version has The Evil Within and 7 Days to Die, for example.
That said, here are some Halloween suggestions for Apple Arcade games with spooky themes that aren’t nearly so soaked in blood.
Stela is beautifully dark
Stela is ideal for Halloween. It’s a cinematic platformer about a young woman witnessing the final days of a mysterious ancient world. The game is deliberate dark and creepy, with eerie music and visuals.
It’s reminiscent of Inside. The similarity resulted in some negative reviews, but is a bonus for Apple Arcade subscribers who are fans of that equally dark game.
Stela is available on the Apple Arcade section of the App store.
Battle zombies in Survival Z
What would Halloween be without zombies? Survival Z challenges you to blast through waves of shambling undead. It’s up to you destroy the zombies with an array of weapons and traps.
I genuinely enjoyed playing this. It’s a mix of action and strategy, but heavy on the action. It’s not a traditional RPG, but you can improve your character with new skills, weapons and armor, and must face off against a wide range of zombie types with skills of their own.
Survival Z is available to Apple Arcade subscribers in the App Store.
Creaks offers an eerie world filled with puzzles
Creaks starts with strange noises behind the walls. Soon, you’re confronting avian folk and deadly furniture monsters. The game is a puzzle adventure with hand-painted visuals and eerie original music.
It earned 4.7 out of 5 stars. One reviewer said, “The puzzles are fabulous. They are so incredibly clever, I don’t know how people come up with this stuff.
Download Creaks from Amanita Design now from the Apple Arcade section of the App Store.
Castlevania: Grimoire of Souls for monster-slashing fun
Vampires are another Halloween staple, and the latest is a long-running line of vampire/monster hunting games is Castlevania: Grimoire of Souls. It’s a side-scrolling action game that holds onto the classic look of earlier versions.
This isn’t the place for a full review but its roots as a pay-to-play are clear, for good or ill. I enjoyed it, but players have to be willing to put in the time to earn the various types of tokens needed to get the equipment fight the harder monsters. To some, that will feel like grinding. To others, it’s fun.
Apple Arcade subscribers can find Castlevania: Grimoire of Souls on the App Store.
Inmost is genuinely frightening
You might not expect it from a game with the bit-mapped look of Inmost might be the eeriest title on this list. It’s hard to describe so I’ll let the developer say that it’s “an atmospheric, story-driven puzzle platformer, following three playable characters within one dark, interconnecting story.”
Halloween has become so focused on candy and sexy nurse costumes that we’ve mostly forgotten that it was originally about death. Inmost is also about death. Traumatic death. That makes it possibly the scariest app in Apple Arcade.
If getting scared is what you’re looking for this season, try Inmost now.
Meet the many ghosts of Cozy Grove
If you encounter a ghost on Halloween, you don’t have to run away. In Cozy Grove on Apple Arcade, the goal is to help the spirits you find.
It has hand-drawn landscapes and cute characters, and many players find it relaxing.
You too can become a Spirit Scout in Cozy Grove on the App Store.
Sneaky Sasquatch is a Halloween treat
Sneaky Sasquatch is the Ted Lasso of Apple Arcade. It’s a cheery game that stays near the top of the charts because so many people like it — it has a 4.9 out of 5 ranking from players.
Bigfoot is a cryptid and a classic Halloween costume, and dressing up in a digital costume is a fun way to celebrate the holiday. This game is not in any way spooky, which is great if that’s not your thing.
If this sounds like fun, download Sneaky Sasquatch today.
All part of Apple Arcade
Apple Arcade costs $6.99 per month, and there are no hidden fees because the service bans in-app purchases, loot boxes and ads.
It comes with over 200 games in a wide variety of genres, from simple casual games to in-depth RPGs. These are all available on iPhone and iPad, and most are also playable on Mac and Apple TV.
